You are probably well aware that
daily, trivial tasks for us humans
present major headaches for
robots. If you are at a desk, close
your eyes and reach out and
grab a pen or pencil. When your
fingers brush up against it, you
take your mental image of the
object, its shape, orientation,
smoothness, mass, etc., and use
that information to grip it. You
can easily decide how much
pressure to apply and how to
orient your fingers for the best
grip. For a robotic hand, this is a
major challenge.